Music Features Prominently in Global Prehistoric Archaeology and Ancient Legends

Steven Waller – wallersj@yahoo.com

Rock Art Acoustics, Lemon Grove, CA, 91945, United States

Popular version of 2aMU6 – Musical Instruments Feature Prominently in Prehistoric Archaeology and Legends of Multiple Cultures
Presented at the 190th ASA Meeting
Read the abstract at https://eppro01.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASASPRING2026

–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–

Put yourself in the place of one of your early Stone Age human ancestors. As you are devouring a bird, you see a hollow bone that the wind could blow through, so you breathe into it. Imagine your surprise when the bone comes alive with the piercing sound of a shrill whistle, and then your further astonishment when an invisible spirit responds from a cave on the other side of the canyon with the exact same whistling.

Early peoples did not understand the wave nature of sound. The complex acoustic principles that cause sound production from musical instruments were totally inexplicable; that goes double for sound repetition in the form of echoes. Examples will be given of ancient myths from cultures around the world describing magic flutes and echo spirits. These attempts to explain mysterious sounds by attributing them to supernatural entities underscore the misperception of such sounds in the past as otherworldly.

Sound producing objects – including flutes, drums, and musical bows – are often depicted in prehistoric paintings and engravings, which are typically situated in acoustically reflective environments such as caves, canyons, and cliff faces. Evidence is accumulating to support the theory that such rock art was motivated by the echoes and reverberation heard in those special acoustic environments. Results of archaeoacoustic studies will be presented relating musical instruments to the content and context of prehistoric art.

Another example of misperception of musical sounds in the distant past pertains to Stonehenge and other megalithic stone circles known by the collective term “Pipers’ Stones”, from an ancient legend of two magical pipers. Experimental data show that sound wave interference patterns from two flutes or bagpipes can cause the auditory illusion of acoustic shadows that seem to be cast from a ring of massive rocks blocking the sound, when in actuality it is merely sound wave cancellation from the two sound sources.

These examples of musical instruments featuring prominently in prehistoric archaeology and in legends of multiple cultures emphasize the importance of considering how the human mind has perceived and interpreted sounds over time, especially when studying archaeological sites.

“The Cave Spoke Back” ebook, a collection of archaeoacoustic publications by Steven J. Waller, can be accessed at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/zx0sc652ybovt6ijf5nl0/AC2bHC3yQbTvF8lhWj5yhSc?rlkey=6je6s4zmgc9ygqme599q4c40x&st=62vrgw3f&dl=0